NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Well slather me salt and call me a pretzel cause this is about to get twisted. Imagine that being the opening to the next Stephen King book. He might lose some readers but I’d gain a lot of respect for the guy. Not like he needs any more respect but he would definitely have it from me.

Anyways, what have I been thinking about lately besides the awkward conclusion to the fantasy football season and how much Neil deGrasse Tyson bothers me? I guess we’ll start there.

If you’re not privy to the goings-on in the sports world, there’s this dumb thing men do called play fantasy football. We put money into a pool, we draft our players, and based on how they do in real life we get points and then try and convince our friends that we had something to do with it all along.

This was the final week of the “fantasy” season, so a lot of people were playing for a lot of money. Sunday came and went, and Monday strolled along. Two of the best teams in the NFL going head to head to decide the fantasy season. A lot of the best fantasy players were on either the Bills or the Bengals, so this was a crucial game for a lot of fantasy owners.

Then, about halfway through the first quarter, Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field due to cardiac arrest. Players, coaches, and fans all stood silent, horrified of what just took place. Suddenly life and death struck us all in the face and fantasy turned to reality very quickly.

Hamlin was transported to a local hospital after being administered CPR and remains in critical condition, but is thankfully making a lot of progress. He started a toy drive several years ago that collected about $2,500. It’s now in the millions. It’s pretty cool what can happen when people come together to support one another.

It feels silly even writing about fantasy football considering the circumstances so I don’t even feel like getting into it anymore, but it’s a headache. Some people feel like they should win and others feel like it should be their team crowned champion. I hope it’s a reminder to all of us not to take life too seriously, especially when it comes to things we do for fun like play a game with our friends.

Anyways, Neil deGrasse Tyson bothers me. There’s no easy way to transition out of a man almost dying on the field to me ranting about a popular astrophysicist grinding my gears but here goes I suppose…

It’s just hard to watch someone gifted with such intelligence and influence be so close-minded. He’s so certain that viewing the world through a scientific lens is the only and best way to do so that he shuts himself off from even considering other means of knowledge, understanding, and perception.

There’s a ton of value in measuring phenomena in the material world and understanding what we consider “objective” reality, but it’s only a small piece of the pie. There are things we can prove through math and science, but there are also things we can understand on a deeper level that can’t be measured or sometimes even explained. To not give credence to those things or to say they’re not useful is absurd.

Anyways, that’s a topic for another day. I was hoping to write about comedy a bit today. This blog has been hugely important for me as a means of reflection when it comes to comedy. I think it also provides insight into a unique world that most people don’t have access to and I’m thankful that a lot of people find it interesting. The blog is almost at 500 email subscribers from around the world and I’m eternally grateful that people are interested in what I have to say.

I’ve been hosting an open mic at the Creek and the Cave on Thursdays and it’s allowed me to meet a lot of well-known comedians and gain insight into what it means to be a comedian. I don’t want to name drop or anything but I’ve been lucky enough to hang out in the green room with people who have been doing this a long time and are really good at what they do.

Soaking in their stories and knowledge is a huge part of the growing process as a comedian that I simply wouldn’t have access to if I stayed home. I get to watch great comedians and experience great comedians right in front of me every week. Instead of shooting for what I perceive as success on stage, I’m exposed to what it looks like in real time. It’s hard to quantify exactly how valuable that is. I don’t need to quantify though, as long as I understand it. You got that, Neil deGrasse Tyson Chicken Nugget? Neil deGrasse is always greener on the scientific side. I can’t let this go. I won’t let this go. Neil down in front of me because I know everything deGrasse Tyson. Suck on it, buddy.

I’m sure he’s a nice guy. I don’t know him personally. This has more to do with what the type of thinking he represents. I’m attacking the strictly scientific view of reality, not you Neil. I’m sorry Neil. If you ever see this, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be ripping on you so hard, but I’m just enjoying myself too much.

I doubt I’ll ever meet Neil deGrasse Tyson but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I did and this came up because that’s just how my life usually works.

Okay I’d like to spend another couple hours dumping on Dr. Tysonofabitch (oof, that one was mean) but I have things to attend. This post is gonna come back to haunt me, I can feel it.

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